A new pain relief implant using Wii-style technology for people with chronic nerve pain has been used in Scotland for the first time. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Dr Gordon McGinn fitted the new “neurostimulator implant” under local anaesthetic at Glasgow’s New Victoria Hospital.
The implant uses stateof- the-art Wii-style motion sensing technology to provide pain relief when a patient moves around. At present, most implants require the patient to constantly adjust the amount of pain relief according to their movements but the new device does this automatically. Dr McGinn commented: “The new neurostimulator implant is an excellent step forward in pain relief for patients with chronic neuropathic pain such as sciatica and other pain caused by severe nerve irritation. Electrodes are inserted onto the spinal cord and, when activated, they create an electric field around it. The electrodes then stimulate the nerves around the spinal cord and effectively mask the pain by generating a pleasant tingly feeling.”
